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Live Chat Invitation

I would like to invite the members of the GJA to the IRC chatrooms that I have set up. Bear with me, I would like to give you a bit of background so each of you can make an informed decision on your chatroom participation.

The first room I set up is #kpforum on Freenode.net Many folks from Zaratan's Kim Possible Forum use this room every night. The chat here is very free form and can get quite silly and, at times, even quite risqué.

I have also set up a second room, #kpwriters on Freenode.net. This room I set up after I saw the direction the #kpforum room was taking for the express purpose of promoting quieter more serious discussions of story concepts, plot points, phrasing and the like (or just general KP fandom). I did this because I did not think 'anything goes' would appeal to all the different Kim Possible fan fiction writers I knew through the forums, and I did not want anyone to feel left out. This second room has not seen much use, though King in Yellow usually stops in here most nights before moving on to the busier #kpforum room.

Therein lies my dilemma in presenting the invitation to join the chat to you, the GJA membership: I think the majority of the personalities I have met and conversed with on this board would probably be more at home in a more reserved room like #kpwriters than the anything goes atmosphere of the #kpforum chat. I do not want to exclude anybody from one room or the other, but I don't want to lead any of you somewhere where you are likely to feel uncomfortable.

If you are interested in participating in either of the chatrooms here are the links to the web pages to access them:

#kpforum: This chat has evolved into the ‘anything goes’ playroom. You are certainly welcome to drop in here if you like, but please note I won’t attempt to change the tone of this room to accommodate one or two users over all the others.

These are the basic instructions for using either chatroom:

Type your nickname or moniker in the text box of the startup screen. I use the same nickname I use on the forums that way everybody knows who I am. Note: the nickname MUST be unique to the freenode.net server system. That means that common names and initials are usually already taken by someone else.

Leave the password box blank (more on that later).

Click on the "click to join chatroom" button to enter the chat. 1-2-3 you are in the chat.

Once you are in the chatroom, use the lower box (that's the white space just above the "smilies" label) to type in your “chatting” and it will appear in the middle-left box of all of the people logged in to the #KPwriters (or #KPforum) chat room.

The middle-right box contains a list of everybody currently logged-in the chat room (the ones with star symbols have control authority over the chat room, known as “ops” in IRC-speak).

The top of the chat window contains the advertising that pays for the service (it’s very inconspicuous), and a tab for the room you are currently in.

Type "/help" without the quotes for even more info.

Keep in mind that since this is a live chat, you don’t get to go back and edit you post if you think twice about something you said.

When you are ready to leave the chatroom, just close the webpage in your browser to leave the chat.

The information above will get you started in IRC chat, but there is a lot more you can do once you are comfortable with the basics:

You can register your nickname with an e-mail address and a password so that only you can use it (now you know what that password box on the startup screen is for).

Since this is an IRC chat, you can access it with IRC chat clients directly like GAIM/PIDGIN, mIRC, X-chat, Trillian and the Chatzilla add-on for Firefox. You don’t have to use the web page I set up if you don’t want to, but it's a great way for a beginner to get comfortable.

You can be in multiple chatrooms (similar to having multiple web pages open in a tabbed browser) at the same time.

You can initiate private side conversations with other people who are currently in the same chatroom.

I have shared ops control with Kwebs and Cpneb so far and I would be looking for 1 or 2 more very level-headed individuals to add to that list in the #kpwriters chat room especially. It been my experience that most of the rare controversy that has occurred in the original chatroom has blown over with a bit of time without anybody interfering.

I hope you’ll join me in the chatroom(s) of your choice and enjoy the real-time give and take of a live chat.